This bank was a British public sector financial institution founded in 1968. Throughout it´s life this bank has been evolved in several name changes and owners.
In the 1960s, although most towns had one or more bank branches, smaller communities very often had no bank branch at all. Post Offices branches , on the other hand were just about in every community. There used to be about 22,000 Post Offices branches in the UK compared to about 3,000 bank branches.
This Bank has produced many firsts, it was the first bank designed with computerized operations in mind, the first bank to establish OCR technology, the first to offer free accounts & interest bearing current accounts and the first bank in Europe to offer telephone banking, effectively paving the way for its competitors to establish a new period of innovation in banking and technology.
This company bought land at Bootle on Merseyside on the site of a sidings of the North Mersey Branch railway. It also built a large, purpose built office and data processing complex for the site. It was rumoured that the buildings had been planned with an alternative use as a hospital should the project be abandoned.
By the late 1970s, one pound in every four pounds deposited in cash at a bank in the UK was deposited with this bank. This would later rise to one pound in every three.